Category: Art

History of Music in Iran and its Current Structure, Mohammad Khodadadi, August 14, 2022

mohammad-khodadadi

Mohammad Khodadadi, born in 1979 in Bushehr, Iran, is a Ney player and a composer who is currently residing in Vienna/Austria. He has studied composition of western classical music at the university of Anton Bruckner in Linz/Austria. Mohammad started playing Ney from the age of 15 through strong self-discipline and coaching of Masters of Ney such as Mr. Hassan Kassai, and Mr. A. Afsharnia. He has also studied the Persian radif and techniques of singing with Master Hatam Askari & Seddigh Tarif. He learned to play the piano with Rosita Shaker and Tamara Dolidze in Iran and continued with Andreas Taller in Austria. Mohammad learned composition with Master Alireza Mashayekhi, Professor Soyka and Erland Freudenhaler. Mohammad currently performs as a soloist and composer in various concerts in Europe and Iran.

The Shop Window – Vitrine: Film and Q&A, Monjazi, Dec 9, 2018

Mr.Monjezi, a writer, editor and lecturer has fulfilled his desire to screen The Shop Window as a director. Director Monjezi currently resides in Iran. After showing the film, we will be in direct contact with him. Audience could ask questions and discuss directly with him. We will provide translators for English speaking audience.

A look at the narratives of social and cultural trauma in modern Iranian fiction, Omid Fallahazad, Feb 18, 2018

Omid Fallahazad is a bilingual fiction writer. His recent novel in Farsi, Gahvareye Div (NaaKojaa, 2016) centers on house burning riots in Shiraz against Bahai’s on the eve of the Iranian Revolution and the controversies surrounding the incident. His other works in Farsi include a collection of short stories, Se Tir-baran Dar Se Dastan (H&S Media, 2016), and a best-selling young adult novella, Razi (Madreseh, 2001). Omid’s English stories has appeared in publications such as Glimmer Train, Paul Revere’s Horse, World Literature Today, and in Tremors, an anthology of Iranian-American writers. He and his wife, media artist, Rashin Fahandej, live with their daughter near Boston, Massachusetts.

A lecture by Mansoureh Sabetzadeh, Jul 23, 2017

Mansoureh Sabtzadeh has a Ph.D. in Persian Language and Literature from the Islamic Azad University (Research and Science branch) in Tehran, Iran. Since 1994 she has been an Assistant Professor at the Islamic Azad University, South Tehran branch and as director of center for Iranian Musicology, she has coordinated related research programs. Dr Sabetzadeh is a scholar of Persian language and literature, dance, folklore, and traditional Iranian music, with an emphasis on musical influences in Persian language and literature.

A Talk by Niloufar Talebi: Abraham in Flames, May 21, 2017

Niloufar Talebi is a writer, award-winning translator, producer, and multidisciplinary artist. She is the Editor/Translator of Belonging: New Poetry by Iranians Around the World (North Atlantic Books/2008), the translator of Vis & I (l’Aleph, 2017), and creator of multimedia works, ICARUS/RISE and The Persian Rite of Spring: the story of Nowruz. Ms. Talebi was a Resident Artist with the American Lyric Theater and the Washington National Opera, where she developed two operas as part of her Persian Opera Cycle.

A Talk by Mokhtar Paki, Author & Painter, Feb 21, 2016

Mokhtar Paki born in Shiraz, received his M.A. in architecture from Science & Technology University in Norway, and as a visiting student at Oxford Polytechnic University finished his theses on “Reconstruction of Disaster Stricken Regions”. His professional work includes reconstruction and rehabilitation of schools, and clinics for veterans. He received his second M.A. in Creative-writing from San Francisco State University in 1996.

Since 1987, his short stories and articles have appeared in various journals in Iran, Europe and U.S. His latest novel “Sharhzade Sokoot” has been recently published. Mokhtar is also a painter, and he teaches art.

Drama-Therapy, Manijeh Mohamedi, Jul 15, 2015

Manijeh Mohamedi, theater arts graduate from San Francisco State University, with master degree in drama-therapy (RDT), has over 45 years experience in theatrical arts and over 20 years experience in teaching drama in universities, acting schools, community centers and colleges in Iran, and acting schools in US.

Manijeh with her extensive experience in drama-therapy has addressed individual and group emotional issues through theater and a variety of presentation workshops. She has designed workshops for prisoners, war victims and their families, as well as adolescents, emotionally disturbed and disabled individuals and elderly.

The Legend of Gilgamesh, Bahram Beyzaei, Nov 10, 2013

Bahram Beyzaie is one of Iran’s most acclaimed filmmakers, playwrights, and scholars of the history of Iranian theater, both secular and religious. He was a leader of the generation of filmmakers known as the Iranian New Wave, beginning in the late 1960s, and has since directed more than a dozen prize-winning films. He has also conducted pioneering research into the roots of ancient legends derived from Indo-Iranian mythology and known collectively as A Thousand and One Nights. He is that rare artist who is also an erudite critic and scholar of his myriad crafts.

Born in Tehran, Beyzaie was for many years the head of the Theatre Arts Department at Tehran University. His two volume study of the history of Iranian theatre is still considered the authoritative account of this history. Since his arrival at Stanford as the Bita Daryabari Lecturer of Persian Studies, he has staged several of his plays and given workshops on Iranian mythology and cinema. He currently teaches courses on Iranian theatre and cinema.

The Meaning of Time in My Poetry, Sheida Mohamadi, Mar 6, 2013

Shaida Mohammadi: In mythology, time is a nonlinear revolving phenomenon, but in contemporary literature it is about an orderly course of events. Time for a narrator is the time in which she/he lives and can cognitively understand, a time which only finds meaning in ‘before’ and ‘after’; and it is within this chronological time-frame that the narrator can recall and record events. I do the same in my poetry, except for the strong element of nostalgia, the deep longing for the ‘lost time’ and the desire to make those fantasies to come alive in my time.

Naser Rahmani Nejad, Jul 29, 2012

Nasser Rahmaninejad, a foremost celebrated Iranian artist started his theatre career in 1959 in Iran. In response to the authoritarian cultural policies and harsh censorship of the Shah’s regime, he founded his alternative, independent theatre group, Mehr, in 1966.

His group, which later changed its name to Iran Theatre Association, became very influential in the field, competing with other well-financed, state-sponsored theatre groups until it was closed down by the SAVAK, the Shah’s secret police in 1974. All members of the group were arrested and Rahmaninejad was sentenced to 12 years in prison; though he was ultimately freed by the 1979 revolution that toppled the Shah’s regime.

After the revolution Rahmaninejad resumed his artistic activities, staging several plays while teaching at Iran’s Faculty of Dramatic Arts, while writing articles and lecturing on theatre and politics for a range of audiences.

Following the Islamic regime’s crackdown on the opposition, Rahmaninejad was forced into exile. However, he continued his artistic activities writing essays, translating articles on theatre and politics into Persian, and lecturing at a variety of academic and artistic organizations in Europe and the United States, such as the International Writing Program (University of Iowa), the Center for Iranian Research and Analysis (CIRA), and the Iranian Studies Program at Stanford University. His plays in exile include My Heart, My Homeland, produced and performed by the Department of Theatre of Columbia College of Chicago (1995); and One Page of Exile, performed in the inaugural “New Windows on Old Pasadena” festival (1996). Rahmaninejad lives in the Bay Area, California.

The Satirical Journal Mullah Nasroddin and the Iranian Constitutional Revolution, Evan Siegel, Jul 15, 2012

Evan Siegel has published and presented articles on Iran for a quarter of a century. His interests focus chiefly on Iran during the Constitutional Revolution. He has translated Ahmad Kasravi’s monumental work “History of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution”. He has carefully annotated it with material from the Constitutional press as well as the memoir literature of the time and other relevant documents. He has also published and presented articles on the early Caucasian Muslim press, focusing on the satirical journal Mullah Nasroddin.

The Poet’s daughter: Living with Malek of Shoara Bahar, Parvaneh Bahar, Feb 25, 2012

“The Poet’s Daughter is an engrossing coming-of-age tale of a Persian girl torn between devotion to her father- Bahar, the last icon of classical Persian poetry-and her own relentless desire to fashion for herself an identity as an independent, assertive modern woman…The beguiling simple elegance of the narrative never shies away from the harsh and heroic realities of the story.”
–Abbas Milani, Director of Iranian Studies, Stanford University

About the Speaker
Parvaneh Bahar was born in Tehran, Iran and came to the US in 1953. She has a B.A. in English Literature from American University and an M.S. from Catholic University of America in Washington DC. She worked for 29 years as Research Librarian for the World Bank and IMF Library and has written two books in Persian – Morgh Sahar: Khaterat Parvaneh Bahar (Memoir of Parvaneh Bahar) and Abeh Portaghal (Orange Juice). Parvaneh’s third book, The Poet’s Daughter: Malek o’Shoara Bahar of Iran and the Immortal Song of Freedom is in English and was published in September 2011.

Behind the Dust and Dirt: The Promise of an Iranian Spring, Amir, Co-author of “Zahra’s Paradise”, Nov 6, 2011

“In the immediate aftermath of the 2009 presidential elections, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed the millions of Iranians who had poured into Tehran’s streets as “dust and dirt”. And like dust and dirt, the Islamic Republic has sought to wipe and wash away the memory of the 2009 protests. Yet, far from remaining confined in the ash heaps of history, the political and historical ash remains a potent, explosive force, one that sparks and crackles with life. “Zahra’s Paradise” takes us into the depths of Evin prison, and explores the judicial twilight zone in which hundreds of Iranian dissidents have vanished. We look at the role of art, technology and memory through the prism of a graphic novel, and explore how citizen-journalists capture and reflect the hope, courage and dignity of the Iranian people, the promise of an Iranian spring.”

Political Satire on Television, Kambiz Hosseini, May 22, 2011

Kambiz Hosseini is a playwright, award-winning actor, and TV host working for Voice of America. He was born in Rasht, Iran in 1975 and moved to the U.S. in 2000. At the age of ten, Kambiz was the host of a popular radio show called “Islamic Revolution Blossoms.” Since then, he has written and directed many stage plays and radio and TV shows. He is currently the host and writer of VOA’s satirical TV program /Parazit/ (‘Static’ in English). He has studied dramatic literature and acting in Iran and the U.S.

Journalism, Field Reporting, Serialized Magazine Stories, Political and Social Issues in Sports, Teaching Journalism, and Living in Exile, Dr. Sadreddin Elahi, May 1, 2011

Dr. Sadreddin Elahi, veteran writer, critic, researcher, translator, poet, and an expert on ancient texts, is one of Iran ’s most prominent journalists, and one of the first writers of serialized fiction in Iran . He was the founder and editor of “Keyhan Varzeshi” established in 1955. He taught Journalism in The College of Communication Sciences in Iran , and he is one of the initiators of the modern style of conversational dialogue in newspaper journalism. He is also an outstanding field reporter as his reports from the Algerian War for Independence demonstrated. Dr. Elahi is the author of “Ba Saadi dar Bazercheh Zendeghi”, “Doori-ha va Delghiri-ha”, “Naghde Bee Ghash – Collected Conversations of Saderdin Elahi with Parviz Khanlari”, and a forthcoming book “Sayed Ziaedin.”

Iranian Poetry, Dance and Art from a Historical, Sociological and Political Perspective, Shahrokh Moshkin Ghalam, Sep 13, 2009

Shahrokh Moshkin Ghalam is an Iranian modern dancer trained and based in Paris. A graduate in History of Art and Theatre from the University of Paris 8, he is choreographer, actor, and director. He has danced in Seven Pavilions of Love, Sohrab and Gordafarid, and Khosrow and Shirin. In addition, he is the founder and artistic director of Nakissa Art Company. http://www.shahrokh-nakissa.com/

· Sahar Dehghan has been studying Indian classical drama and dance under the great Kathak Master Pandit Chitresh Das, in India and in the U.S. She has also been a principal dancer of Ballet Afsaneh. She is currently based in Paris, working with Shahrokh Moshkin Ghalam and Nakissa and is studying the philosophy and poetry of Hafez. www. sahardh.com.

A presentation by Nader Takmil Homayoun, followed by the screening of the documentary film “Iran: A Cinematographic Revolution”, May 1, 2007

Nader Takmil Homayoun was born in Paris and studied filmmaking in France at l’École Nationale Supéneure des Metiers de l’Image et du son (FEMIS). He has directed several short films including Cache-cache (1995), Autour de Mortin (1997), Les Fleurs de l’Algérien (1998) and C’est pour bientôt (2000). Iran: A Cinematographic Revolution (2006) is his first feature-length documentary.

Current Status of Persian Classical Music in Iran and Abroad, Mohammad Reza Lotfi, Jul 24, 2005

….Lotfi is one of the greatest contemporary masters of the tar and setar. He is among the major figures who, in the past twenty years, have revolutionized the Persian traditional (classical) music. His innovative approach of combining the classical with folk elements, both in terms of music and technique, has injected a new vitality into a very old tradition. His original creativity and the deep-rooted emotional quality of his playing have made him the father of a new aesthetics in Persian music.
Mohammad Reza Lotfi died on May 2, 2014 in Tehran, Iran.